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By Mike McdonaldReuters • Tuesday July 8, 2014 7:44 AM

GUATEMALA CITY — A strong earthquake shook the border between Guatemala and Mexico yesterday,
killing at least three people, including a newborn boy, damaging dozens of buildings and triggering
landslides.

Much of the damage from the magnitude 6.9 quake was reported in the Guatemalan border region of
San Marcos, where it downed power lines, cracked buildings and triggered landslides that blocked
roads.

Across the border, authorities in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas said that two people
died in building collapses.

In Guatemala, President Otto Perez said the baby died when a hospital ceiling collapsed on him
in San Marcos, an area hit hard by quakes in recent years. In November 2012, the region suffered a
7.4 magnitude quake that killed 48 people.

“With the reports we have so far, we can say this quake has caused moderate damage. It’s not
light damage,” said Perez.

Thirty-three people were hurt, many suffering head injuries, and 41 houses were severely
damaged, Perez said. Thirty-nine other houses had lighter damage, and 36 people in the municipality
of San Sebastian Huehuetenango were evacuated, he said.

“This quake was pretty strong,” San Marcos Gov. Luis Rivera said. “Families in the area are
really scared because of the whole experience of November 2012.”

Rivera said 48 homes were damaged in the town of La Reforma, where the municipal cemetery was
destroyed.

San Marcos suffered major disruptions in communication, added Sergio Vasquez, a spokesman for
fire services.

The quake was centered 1 mile northeast of Puerto Madero in southern Mexico at a depth of 37
miles said the U.S. Geological Survey, which originally reported the quake as having a magnitude of
7.1.